Show off your Pittsburgh Pirates items!

[jojac]

Gregory Polanco Game Used helmet also from opening weekend last year:
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Polanco wearing it here:
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Great looking batting helmet. Players go thru a bunch of bats and game used jerseys in a year but the number of batting helmets in a season is limited and that's why they're one of my favorite items to pick up....Nice job!!!

[tictkac26]

Jakbauskas Jaramillo Pirate bats



All you Pirate and baseball fans out there need to Google "Jakbauskas Pirates" and select videos. Youll see a horrific play against the Houston Astros in this pitchers one and only start for the Bucs. Jamarillio is important as well as he was the catcher during the play. You probably need to rerun it in slow motion to see what really went on. If Jamarillo was only an inch taller. The unbelievable part of this story is very next time out he was pitching for the Oriorles it happened to him again. Watch both videos and you ll know what defines a hard luck pitcher

[Shipp_96]

Great looking batting helmet. Players go thru a bunch of bats and game used jerseys in a year but the number of batting helmets in a season is limited and that's why they're one of my favorite items to pick up....Nice job!!!

Thanks for the compliments, jojac!

I agree, I have a full size curio filled with batting helmets. Half game worn, half retail signed. I think visually helmets display the nicest as well. As far as even return on investment, I have always got more out of worn helmets that jerseys, bats, caps or cleats.

I also feel matching a helmet is so much easier as they have more use as you stated and thus, more distinctive markings as well.

I will say my only beef with MLB used helmets is some of the 3M decals start to peel, which has actually made me sell off some lids I would of normally kept.

[jojac]

Thanks for the compliments, jojac!

I agree, I have a full size curio filled with batting helmets. Half game worn, half retail signed. I think visually helmets display the nicest as well. As far as even return on investment, I have always got more out of worn helmets that jerseys, bats, caps or cleats.

I also feel matching a helmet is so much easier as they have more use as you stated and thus, more distinctive markings as well.

I will say my only beef with MLB used helmets is some of the 3M decals start to peel, which has actually made me sell off some lids I would of normally kept.

The decal issue can be a bit of a problem but for the most part that hasn't been to much of an issue for me. I thought part of the peeling issue may be due to the heavy wear and use on the helmet.
I also found they are by far the easiest item to photo match because of the distinctive markings as you stated.
The other thing that was nice about helmets is that they seemed to be reasonably priced compared to bats and jerseys. From what I'm seeing that's changed the past few years and the helmets took a jump in price for some of the recent players I've collected.

[Shipp_96]

The decal issue can be a bit of a problem but for the most part that hasn't been to much of an issue for me. I thought part of the peeling issue may be due to the heavy wear and use on the helmet.
I also found they are by far the easiest item to photo match because of the distinctive markings as you stated.
The other thing that was nice about helmets is that they seemed to be reasonably priced compared to bats and jerseys. From what I'm seeing that's changed the past few years and the helmets took a jump in price for some of the recent players I've collected.

I will say I at one time had my full curio with all game used helmets and even another corner curio filled with them. Maybe it was the climate where I used to live, but I had numerous helmets that were fine upon purchase start to have decals (numbers on the back, MLB logo, or even the front team decal) peel. Vinyl ones like the Pirates and Tigers use were less of a problem and seem to hold up well.

However the A's are a great example (my other favorite team) and I sold all but one used helmet off because all the 3M "A's" started to peel badly. The one I kept is so used and pine tarred up that the logo is almost encased like a mosquito from Jurassic Park haha.

I also have an Orioles tri color one (from former Pirates Pedro Alvarez) that I repurposed to get Cal Ripken signed on. The Oriole bird was coming off so bad I had to use Gorilla Glue to keep it on there. It has also happened with Twins retails helmets, the 3M logos they use on those are the worst! I have had to either out right replace the retail "TC" logo with a thinner older version or again, use Gorilla Glue on them.

Obviously for an unaltered game worn helmet I won't do that so my solution has been to sale them off when they got to that point. I sold lots of helmets from players I kind of wanted to keep based off those issues (Nelson Cruz, Adrian Beltre, Khris Davis, Brandon Moss, Josh Donaldson) to name a few.

As for your last point, I agree at one time used helmets were a steal price wise. You can still get lucky and get some great deals, even on decent players. But I have also got into bidding wars and lost a couple Pirates used helmets the last couple years that IMO 5 years ago I would of got cheap and easily before.

[Shipp_96]

Been awhile, added a couple more Pirates items, also saw a great game at PNC from the Hyundai Club before the All Star break and the seasonal Hurdle led collapse.

All Star Josh Bell GU Rookie Memorial Day jersey. Even though washed, still some nicely embedded dirt stains on here!




Josh Bell Double vs AZ, Greinke pitching:

[Shipp_96]

One of my favorites, who of course the braintrust gave away for a player to be named later SMH. Corey Dickerson 4th of July GU jersey. I got this at the Kiosk at PNC for a great price!

[Shipp_96]

These were some prize items for me! I am also getting him to sign these in person at a show outside of Philly next month, so really thrilled with getting them. 2013 NL MVP Andrew McCutchen GU camo jersey from 2017!



Though not with the Pirates, McCutchen Game Used bat while in SF with unquestionable photo matches!

[Shipp_96]

Lastly, a couple photos from the game my wife and I went to while visiting my family back home. It was the game Josh Bell got his All Star jersey and he also hit a 3 run HR in the bottom of the 9th, with 2 outs down 6-2. Jung Ho Kang came after and hit back to back HRs to tie it at 6-6. Most thrilling comeback I have ever seen in person.

[Shipp_96]

Picked up a RARE 2012 PIRATAS jersey today, which is the grey road jersey with the Pirates (in Spanish) instead of the traditional Pittsburgh font. This was worn by Pedro Alvarez, who had a metric climb and equally metric fall within a 4 year span once he developed the yips as a fielder. This jersey is from a 30 HR, 85 RBI season. They only wore these once in 2010 and again in 2012 for this game, so nice to add this. Plus I always liked Pedro.



Though not El Toro, one of the few photos I could find from this game, a screenshot of Cutch wearing one.

[Shipp_96]

Added probably my last two jerseys for now. Josh Bell SIGNED throwback jersey from last year vs ST.L!

[Shipp_96]

And lastly, another camo used jersey worn and SIGNED by Josh Harrison! I added this mostly because I was at this freezing cold game back in April of 2015 and had some nice photos from the game I took to match this. Plus for a good 5 years, he was my favorite Pirate.

[Nickkaszer18]

Anyone have a Jason Kendall pirates jersey they would be interested in moving?

[tictkac26]

Melky cabrera bat helmet and jersey[ATTACH=CONFIG]90181[/ATTACH]

[tictkac26]

Dale long 1957 jersey and autographed bat[ATTACH=CONFIG]90182[/ATTACH]